Biden, Sunak vow to stick together on Ukraine

AP :
President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday reiterated their commitment to help Ukraine repel Russia’s ongoing invasion, while agreeing to step up cooperation on challenges their economies face with artificial intelligence, clean energy, and critical minerals.

The leaders said the “first of its kind” agreement-what they are calling the “Atlantic Declaration”-will serve as a framework for the two countries on the development of emerging technologies, protecting technology that is critical to national security and other economic security issues.

“We will put our values front and center,” Biden said as the two leaders started talks in the Oval Office. He later added at a joint news conference that the agreement will help both nations “adapt and upgrade our partnership to ensure our countries remain on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing world.”

As part of the declaration announced Thursday, the two sides will kick off negotiations on the use of minerals from the U.K. that are critical in the production of electric vehicles that are eligible for U.S. tax credits. The administration has also opened talks with the European Union and forged a deal with Japan that allow certain critical raw materials for EVs to be treated as if they were sourced in the United States.

Allies have raised concerns about incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act favoring the North American auto industry. The legislation – one of Biden’s key policy victories – invests some $375 billion to transition the United States to cleaner cars and energy sources.

Biden and Sunak have already had four face-to-face meetings since Sunak became prime minister in October, but the talks in Washington offered the two leaders a chance for their most sustained interaction to date.

Sunak reflected on the significant conversations their respective predecessors have had over the years in the Oval Office and acknowledged that both he and Biden were facing their own daunting moment. The visit to Washington is Sunak’s first since becoming Britain’s prime minister in October.

“Our economies are seeing perhaps the biggest transformation since the Industrial Revolution as new technologies provide incredible opportunities, but also give our adversaries more tools,” Sunak said.

The 15-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine was high on the agenda. The U.S. and U.K. are the two biggest donors to the Ukraine war effort and play a central role in a long-term effort announced last month to train, and eventually equip, Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Biden reiterated confidence that Congress would continue to provide Ukraine funding as needed despite some hesitation among Republican leaders at the growing cost of the war for American taxpayers.

“The U.S. and the U.K. have stood together to support Ukraine,” Biden said at the start of their meeting.

Sunak also made the case to Biden for U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace to succeed outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who is set to end his term leading the 31-member alliance in September. Stoltenberg is slated to meet with Biden in Washington on Monday, and leaders from the alliance are set to gather in Lithuania on July 11-12 for their annual summit.

Asked if it was time for a U.K. leader for NATO, Biden said “it may be” but “that remains to be seen.”
“We’re going to have to get a consensus within NATO,” he said.

Biden also reflected that the two countries have worked through some of the toughest moments in modern history side-by-side, recalling the meetings that Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt held in the White House.

“You know Prime Minister Churchill and Roosevelt met here a little over 70 years ago and they asserted that the strength of the partnership between Great Britain and the United States was strength of the free world,” Biden told Sunak. “I still think there’s truth to that assertion.”

Sunak is keen to make the U.K. a key player in artificial intelligence, and announced that his government will gather politicians, scientists and tech executives for a summit on AI safety in the fall.

He said it was vital to ensure that “paradigm-shifting new technologies” are harnessed for the good of humanity.
“No one country can do this alone,” Sunak said Wednesday. “This is going to take a global effort.”

Biden said the challenges that comes with the advancement of AI technology are “staggering.”